I'm not trying to offend anyone here. I need some information since I've never heard of this culture before. An old friend contacted me on facebook. She says she's embraced the English Gypsy culture and I guess lives in this environment. If you are familiar with this culture or a part of it, please explain.
I appreciate all of your responses. My friend does sells some kind of art stuff at our local Renaissance Festival. She'll be in town next month. I will remain cautious here with this long lost friend. She doesn't appear pushy, but you never know people's intentions, I suppose. Thanks for the insights.
@Toni: Yes, my friend has changed from what I remember of her. I was very surprised to hear from her.
are you talking about the Travellers? I know the show "The Riches" that was on FX was about a family of Travellers and I just read articles online about them (like here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Traveller) . pretty interesting group!
Look on Wikipedia and search first "Romany," which is the name for the peoples who were misnamed "gypsy" in some countries. The Romany people are not a culture you can "join" but a distinct and very old people who migrated across Europe and have a specific language and ethnicity.
Your friend may be more what is called (also on Wikipedia) a "new age traveller." The term "gypsy" gets interchanged with what the British call travellers. Look that up and see if it sounds right. These are people who basically tend to live in caravans, vans, tents, trailers, etc. and move from fair to fair and festival to festival, often music festivals. I have no idea if this is what she means by "embracing the English gypsy culture" but it's possible.
The term "gypsy" has been so watered down and used for so many different peoples that it's hard to know what she means unless she describes the specific lifestyle she's living. I do know that many Romany or Romani people in Britain don't like the term "gypsy."
I grew up in England until I was 12. We had friends who were either gypsy or had close connections with them. My parents reached out to youth, and among the youth was this gypsy teenager and his family. He had a gypsy horse (beautiful horses - very expensive here in America). The horse would pull a cart and I think they dealt in junk - scrap metal, etc. Rather poor, but he was always cheerful as I remember.
My dad went back to the UK and visited him a few years ago. He's doing very well. Uneducated, but he runs a car scrap metal business that's very successful. He's married now and has a son. Those are my vague childhood memories of gypsies!
TLC has been doing a series called "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" this season. It is pretty interesting, as it examines various aspects of their culture and how they are treated by the rest of English society. They live on the outskirts of mainstream society and very rarely "settle" into one place. Most of them live in RVs or trailer homes (by choice, not by financial necessity.) They see their way of life as intrinsic to their survival as a distinct ethnic group. Pretty interesting group of people, and the TLC series has been very eye-opening for me.
The gypsies/travellers at my school in England could not read or write at age 12, lived on land stolen from a farmer in grotty caravans with lots of dogs and scrap metal around. They were shady and lot well liked in the area and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they finally moved away (and the local crime rate went down too)!! Cost $1000s to clean up the land they stayed on too.
I guess she is referring more to becoming a traveller, going from festival to festival. Think 60's hippie complete with unwashed appearance and dreadlocks, tie dye and dogs on a piece of string and you will be half way there. Lets hope she hasn't embraced the culture too much or you will be meeting a stinky dope smoking friend who is looking for a free handout!!
And yes I am English - lived here 8 years. Hope my response doesn't come across as discriminatory, it's just how that section of society is in the UK...
Never heard of it. But when I lived overseas, there were gypsies interspersed with the citizens. And they never ever resembled what most people think a gypsy looks like (big hoop earrings, bandana, tambourine beating, dancing, violin playing, etc) They wear (the ladies) very frilly, lacy tops, and foot length skirts even in hot weather, with lots of underskirts so that even skinny minnies looked like they had hips a mile wide!
This is the Romany culture. Their own rules and standards. Quite like in muslim societies' dress codes (burka) or Indian (saris). They stand out to be seen for their beliefs and culture.
They are very, very religious, focus on marriage for life. The woman takes care of the kids and the hoe and the man earns a living. Check out the TLC show....they are very discriminated against.
There is a show that just ended its season on TLC that goes over the English gypsy culture. it was fascinating. Google My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and you will be linked to it.
There is a program on cable that explains the BIG FAT GYPSY everything....to me its sort of like a combo of a motorcycle club with some religious beliefs and all the values of all the mob wives, jersey wives, ny wives and hollywood wives.....tattooes, booze, big hair, f bombs and macho men are a MUST!
(There will be no diaper changing daddys in the gypsy culture)! Actually the women seem as macho as the guys.
What's your friend like? Has she changed much?
After living in Wales for 32 years I know all about "gyppos" as we call them. There are distinct types - the Romany, which are the ones with the pretty horses and horse drawn caravans, and the Irish gypsies (although they are not all Irish, they are grouped together as)
Romany gypsies are liked, they are clean, they don't make a mess.
Irish gypsies are just awful. Theiving, stinking, dirty, smelly, makes an unholy mess wherever they go, suck people dry, they will steal the manhole covers off the roads. Everyone hates it when they move in, because they will just cut your gate open, move 6 caravans in without asking, and trash, and I mean TRASH your place. And you can't move them off, they have gypsy "rights" and you have to go through huge amounts of red tape to move them off your land.
Some of them have fairground rides, and they are not so bad, generally pretty clean and honest.
Travelers, are again different, they are mostly hippy types, who are generally quiet and respectful and make crafts and stuff to sell at festivals, tend to smoke a lot of dope, people don't mind them as much, as they don't make a huge mess, or trespass. Maybe she has joined the travellers.
